Acting President receives RoK Prime Minister

Hanoi (VNA) – Acting President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh hosted a reception in Hanoi on September 26 for Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea (RoK) Lee Nak-yeon, who is in Vietnam to pay tribute to President Tran Dai Quang.

The Acting President thanked RoK President Moon Jae-in and his spouse for sending condolences to the Vietnamese Party, State and people, and the family of President Quang.

PM Lee leading a high-raking delegation from the RoK Government to Vietnam to pay homage to the President shows that the RoK State and Government attach importance to the Vietnam-RoK strategic cooperative partnership, she said.

President Quang’s passing is a great loss to the Party, State and people of Vietnam as well as his family, Thinh stressed, adding that the President made valuable contributions to developing the bilateral cooperation to a new level.

The RoK PM extended his deep sympathies to the Vietnamese State and people, and the family of President Tran Dai Quang, affirming that the President greatly contributed to elevating ties between his country and Vietnam.


He recalled a State visit to Vietnam by President Moon Jae-in in March 2018, during which the two sides issued a Joint Statement toward the future. The RoK Government is actively realising commitments between President Tran Dai Quang and President Moon Jae-in.

Acting President Thinh noted with pleasure the effective and practical development in various fields of the Vietnam-RoK strategic cooperative partnership.

The Party, State and people of Vietnam always treasure and wish to deepen the strategic cooperative partnership with the RoK, in line with the common perception of the two countries’ leaders and particularly the Vietnam-RoK Joint Statement toward the future signed in 2018, thus meeting the aspirations of their people as well as contributing to maintaining peace, cooperation and development in the region and the world, she said.

Thinh highlighted great potential for bilateral cooperation, saying the two sides should continue consolidating political trust, regularly maintain high-level exchanges and contacts in flexible forms, and create a favourable political environment to foster collaboration in various fields.

Vietnam and the RoK need to continue stepping up connections between their ministries, agencies and localities, with a view to lifting two-way trade to 100 billion USD by 2020, she said.

She expressed her wish that the RoK will increase support for Vietnam in terms of capital and science-technology by continuing to provide development assistance for the Southeast Asian nation.

The two countries should expand cultural and people-to-people exchanges and cooperation in education and tourism, while supporting, protecting and providing favourable conditions for each other’s citizens, she added.

For his part, PM Lee said that as the RoK and Vietnam are enjoying intensive, reliable and continuously developing collaboration in all spheres, the goal of raising two-way trade to 100 billion USD in 2020 is feasible.

He said his country wishes to cooperate with and assist Vietnam in areas of its strength such as science-technology, infrastructure, smart city, clean energy, human resources training, public administration, and e-government building.

He thanked the Vietnamese Party and State for creating favourable conditions for Korean citizens to live, work and study in Vietnam, affirming that the RoK Government will work hard to enable the Korean-Vietnamese multi-cultural families to lead a stable life in the country, making them firm bridges for promoting the bilateral friendship.

Expressing his belief that Vietnam will see rapid economic developments in the future, the PM asserted that his country will always accompany Vietnam in its development.-VNA